Solidarity with Hunger Strikers of the Alliance of Guest Workers for Dignity

Hi MA community,
Here are some updates on the Indian worker strike.
We will be sending out a notice about local/Boston based solidarity action shortly
But Save the Date: Wednesday 21st at 7pm - Central Square, Cambridge.
Meet in front of Harvest Co-op Supermarket.
(inside in case of rain)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: NNIRR
Date: Fri, May 16, 2008 at 9:00 PM

Three items from the Hunger Strikers of the Alliance of Guest Workers for Dignity, a grassroots project of the New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice [NOWCRJ]

Visit: www.neworleansworkerjustice.org

[1]

From: Stephen Boykewich [mailto:spboykewich@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, May 16, 2008 5:42 PM
To:

Subject: hungers strikers to picket first-ever Indian Embassy cultural day in DC

Ladies and gentlemen,

The Indian hunger strikers and dozens of supporters who broke Signal International's labor trafficking chain in March will be picketing the Indian Embassy in Washington, DC, tomorrow, Saturday May 17, during the Embassy's first-ever official Cultural Day, which begins at 11:30 a.m. (See info from embassy website below.)

Saturday will mark Day Four of the water-only hunger strike protesting Indian government inaction in the workers' quest for justice against a US-Indian labor trafficking racket.

We expect the picket will a great embarrassment for the embassy, which shut out 5 of its own citizens, including 2 of the hunger strikers, when they attempted to deliver a collective statement about the hunger strike's goals on the day of the launch, Wednesday, May 14. (See photo coverage of the incident at www.flickr.com/photos/nolaworkerscenter)

The story is developing very quickly, with support for the workers growing rapidly among US organized labor and social justice communities. On Wednesday, May 21, 12 more hunger strikers plan to join the original 5.

The collective statement the workers attempted to deliver to the Indian Embassy on May 14 is attached. Please let us know how we can help with your coverage, and thank you again for your time and attention!

Best,

Stephen Boykewich, Media Director

New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice

Mob. 504-655-0876

--- [2]

May 17, 2008

On 17th of May 2008, the Embassy of India will host its first official cultural day in conjunction with Cultural Tourism DC's Passport Week. Featured performances include IDEA Dance, a consortium of classical dancers performing Bharatnatyam and Kathak, as well as Dhoonya Dance, a Bollywood-inspired South Asian Dance company who will be performing bollywood-fusion and pop bhangra. The event will begin at 11:30 a.m. and end at 3 p.m. Inside the Embassy will be informational sessions on India, as well as snacks and refreshments. The event will allow the Embassy to share its rich cultural traditions with the community, while providing entertainment for people of all ages.

Time: 11:30 a.m to 3:00 PM

Venue: Embassy of India, 2107 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

[3 Hunger Strikers' Statement]

"We Will Not Be Silent"

Statement of Indian Workers' Congress at Launch of Hunger Strike

May 14, 2008

We represent over 550 Indian guestworkers who were trafficked to the United States Gulf Coast in late 2006. Eighteen months after we first started organizing for our dignity, we have reached our last resort: the hunger strike we are launching today. We want to bring our employer, Signal International, to justice for holding us in forced labor in the land of liberty. We want US Congress to hold hearings that will show the world the realities of the US guest worker program. And we want our own Indian government to take action to protect future workers coming to the US from India.

We risked all we had to come to the United States: our families, our homes, our life savings. We gave everything for a chance at the American Dream, and instead we woke up in an American nightmare.

We took another great risk in escaping from Signal's labor camps and exposing the crimes of the company and its recruiters to the world. We walked in the footsteps of Mahatma Gandhi and the path of US freedom fighters, through Mississippi and Alabama and Georgia, to tell our story at the White House gates.

But today, after all this, we are the ones who are being treated like criminals. We are told we must turn ourselves in for deportation procedures before we can participate in an investigation into our case. We know this is what Signal wants—for us to disappear back to our homeland to drown in an ocean of debt. But they cannot silence us so easily.

We paid $20,000 each for green cards that never existed, but we are not fasting for green cards. We gave up our life savings for the chance to bring our families to the land of opportunity, but we are not fasting to have them at our sides. We are conducting this hunger strike for one thing: the chance to help justice be served. We know that if we remain silent the way Signal wants, our brothers and nephews and neighbors will be next. We have sacrificed everything we had, so now we are laying down our lives.

We ask the US government to grant us Continued Presence in the United States under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act so we can participate in the investigation into our case—with dignity and without fear. We ask the members of US Congress who have heard our story and supported our struggle to call for hearings on abuses in the guest worker visa program. We ask the Indian government to take action on our behalf and convince the United States that it must grant us Continued Presence and hold Congressional hearings. If we, the workers of India, can have the courage to talk to US Congressman and US federal authorities, then surely the Indian government can do the same, so that no other Indian worker suffers as we did.

www.neworleansworkerjustice.org